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In this paper, we explore what the travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic reveal about the changing geographies of mobilities and the making of homo sacer, the latter constituted through differentiated control of mobilities. Implemented to protect U.S. public health, travel restrictions imposed on travelers from Mainland China during the early days of the pandemic exemplify how sovereign power that declares a state of emergency and creates bare life can be readily applied to groups of people who previously had privileged access to global mobility. In this sense, bare life does not refer to fixed and disadvantaged social categories but is rather contingently and contextually constituted, through the works of hybrid sovereign regimes. At the same time, however, these travelers are not reduced to a state of zero-agency but reside within a liminal space between soft and hard cosmopolitanisms, as they can still deploy agency and cosmopolitan capital to achieve certain degrees of mobility. By examining how Chinese travelers navigated various travel restrictions and the constantly changing policies to travel to the U.S., this paper explores new spaces of exception and forms of bare life, and argues that homo sacer is dynamically, relationally and recursively constructed, both through apparatus of control and the agency of travelers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tourism Review is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Trump and his administration brought with them an inflammatory rhetoric that reduced complex issues into the simplified polarity of "us" and "them." With this as the dominant paradigm, racism was encouraged and spread like a virus throughout the nation, appearing in heightened jingoism against other nations, anger towards fellow citizens and violence towards neighbors. When the pandemic Covid-19 spread throughout the nation and the world, it became politicized, used by Trump as a novel corona vehicle help inflame intolerance. He repeatedly associated China and Chinese people with the virus to forward his political agenda regarding US trade with China and he used the resulting demonization of China as a foil for his complicity with Russian crimes. In response to increased and wellpublicized acts of violence against Black Americans, systemic racism against Black people is finally being noticed. However, anti-Asian violence has largely been disregarded. This paper discusses both the increased violence against Asian Americans and the lack of attention to it. Dividing the paper into three sections, I correlate an artwork to the main issue in each section: the state-of-affairs provide a context in which to understand the artworks. Reciprocally, because artworks evoke an embodied understanding, involving our senses as well cognition, artworks change our relationship with issues from topical to personal. The artworks recontextualize what we thought we already knew and present possibilities for constructing the world differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, the approach of the Chinese government remains under the spotlight, obscuring the complex landscape of responses to the outbreak within the country. Drawing upon the author's social media experiences as well as textual analysis of a wide range of sources, this paper explores how the Chinese public responded to the outbreak in complex and nuanced ways through social media. The findings challenge conventional views of Chinese social media as simply sites of self-censorship and surveillance. On the contrary, during the COVID-19 outbreak, social media became spaces of active public engagement, in which Chinese citizens expressed care and solidarity, engaged in claim-making and resistance, and negotiated with authorities. This paper situates this public engagement within a broader context of China's health-care reforms, calling attention to persistent structural and political issues, as well as the precarious positionalities of health-care workers within the health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven decades after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and China, the COVID-19 pandemic presents new prospects and challenges for bilateral cooperation. We seek to analyse various traits in China–Indonesia relations since 2020 by examining how Indonesia attempts balancing between such cooperation and maintaining peaceful ethnic relations domestically. By tracking the domestic discourse surrounding COVID-19 and China through Indonesia's domestic news media, the paper analyses the development of the pandemic in Indonesia, its procurement of vaccines, and, most significantly, domestic sentiments concerning Indonesia's ethnic Chinese Tionghoa citizens, as well as Indonesia's bilateral relations with China in general. The article argues that while the COVID-19 pandemic has created new avenues of cooperation between Indonesia and China, it has also adversely affected the domestic relations between ethnic Chinese citizens and the rest of the population. However, this has not translated into a widespread backlash toward China that might hinder bilateral cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Quarterly is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the last decade, the Philippines has experienced an escalation of anti-Chinese sentiment due to many factors, founded and unfounded. The growing presence of illegal immigrants and crimes associated with them; an increase in the number of Chinese workers, who are perceived as competing with Filipino workers; an increase in Chinese businesses, especially in retail, some operating without permits; the continuing dispute between China and the Philippines over the islands in the West Philippine Sea; President Rodrigo Duterte's China pivot policy and what has been deemed as favoring China to the detriment of the Philippines. This confluence of events has served to worsen the image of China. The COVID-19 pandemic and the way the government responded to it worsened the sinophobia directed at anyone considered "Chinese," including Filipinos of Chinese ancestry. This paper explores the racism vented against the Chinese and how the local Chinese-Filipino community has responded with positive action to help mitigate the anti-Chinese wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The size of China's State-owned media's operations in Africa has grown significantly since the early 2000s. Previous research on the impact of increased Sino-African mediated engagements has been inconclusive. Some researchers hold that public opinion toward China in African nations has been improving because of the increased media presence. Others argue that the impact is rather limited, particularly when it comes to affecting how African media cover China-related stories. This article contributes to this debate by exploring the extent to which news media in 30 African countries relied on Chinese news sources to cover China and the COVID-19 outbreak during the first-half of 2020. By computationally analyzing a corpus of 500,000 written news stories, this paper shows that, compared to other major global players (e.g. Reuters, AFP), content distributed by Chinese media (e.g. Xinhua, China Daily) is much less likely to be used by African news organizations, both in English and French speaking countries. The analysis also reveals a gap in the prevailing themes in Chinese and African media's coverage of the pandemic. The implications of these findings for the sub-field of Sino-African media relations, and the study of global news flows are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a new concept called virus-combat social capital and presents relevant findings from a survey of 3009 Chinese WeChat networkers. Virus-combat social capital is defined by the intensity and extensity of social connectedness under conditions of physical isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey shows that as compared to their counterparts, Chinese people with higher virus-combat social capital consistently do better in both behavioral responses and measures of quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic may have had a negative impact on dairy consumption trends. Many dairy products are perishable and have relatively high income elasticity, causing their susceptibility to market fluctuations in general, including those specifically caused by the pandemic. However, the pandemic has also brought some other prospective possibilities. For example, during the pandemic, people paid more attention to nutrition and health issues and increased the number of meals prepared and eaten at home. In consideration of the particular circumstances during the pandemic, the Chinese government issued several policies to promote the population's dairy consumption, and the Chinese dairy cattle sector actively implemented the policy of "guarantee price, quality, and supply". These factors may have caused the Chinese population to increase their consumption of dairy products during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, the consumption of dairy products in the Chinese population showed an overall upward trend. The question addressed in this study is how has COVID-19 affected dairy consumption trends during the pandemic? This study uses accounting data from the Chinese dairy cattle sector to empirically analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dairy consumption trends through economic theories and translog revenue function. Our study found that COVID-19 increased consumers' consumption of dairy products in China, but those people experiencing poverty may still have experienced inadequate dairy intake. This study has contributed to the body of work in this area in the literature and provides response strategies for the dairy cattle sector and the authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, China has been the leading exporter and donor of COVID-19 vaccines in the world. Based on a survey of 460 Chinese participants conducted in mainland China in March 2021, the results showed that the participants' value-expressive attitudes (i.e. their responsibility to help) and esteem attitudes (i.e. China's image and status) were strong predictors of their support for vaccine exports and donations, whereas attitudes related to prevention and a possible vaccine shortage in China were weak predictors. Fairness and ingroup loyalty were the major moral foundations of their support for such international efforts; the influence of fairness and ingroup loyalty was both direct and mediated by value-expressive and esteem attitudes. Collectively, the present results show that support for international efforts can be analysed from a moral, altruistic perspective and thus extend the previous theorising that focused on the transactional nature of international outreach efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for volunteers to complement overwhelmed public health systems. This study aims to explore Chinese people's attitudes toward volunteerism amid the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we identify the latent topics in volunteerism-related microblogs on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter using the topic modeling analysis via Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). To further investigate the public sentiment toward the topics generated by LDA, we also conducted sentiment analysis on the sample posts using the open-source natural language processing (NLP) technique from Baidu. Through an in-depth analysis of 91,933 Weibo posts, this study captures 10 topics that are, in turn, distributed into five factors associated with volunteerism in China as motive fulfillment (n = 31,661, 34.44%), fear of COVID-19 (n = 22,597, 24.58%), individual characteristic (n = 17,688, 19.24%), government support (n = 15,482, 16.84%), and community effect (n = 4,505, 4.90%). The results show that motive fulfillment, government support, and community effect are the factors that could enhance positive attitudes toward volunteerism since the topics related to these factors report high proportions of positive emotion. Fear of COVID-19 and individual characteristic are the factors inducing negative sentiment toward volunteerism as the topics related to these factors show relatively high proportions of negative emotion. The provision of tailored strategies based on the factors could potentially enhance Chinese people's willingness to participate in volunteer activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares Chinese people's trust and trustworthiness, risk attitude, and time preference before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. We compare the preferences of subjects in two online experimentswith samples drawn from 31 provinces across mainland China before and after the onset of the pandemic. We test two competing hypotheses regarding trust and trustworthiness. On the one hand, the outbreak as a collective threat could enhance in-group cohesion and cooperation and thus increase trust and trustworthiness. On the other hand, to the extent that people expect their future income to decline, they may become more self-protective and self-controlled, and thus less trusting and trustworthy and more risk averse and patient. Comparing before and after the onset, we found that the subjects increased in trustworthiness. After the onset, trust and trustworthiness (and risk aversion and present bias too) were positively correlated with the COVID-19 prevalence rate in the provinces. Subjects with more pessimistic expectations about income change showed more risk aversion and lower discount rates, supporting the speculation concerning self-control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study scrutinized the behavioral adoption of informational e-government services among Chinese citizens in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. A structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was applied for the data analysis using Smart PLS 3.0 statistical software. The results show that information quality, information credibility, and ease of COVID-19 informational e-government services are significant in determining citizens' perception of the usefulness of COVID-19 information shared on e-government platforms. Also, the study revealed that the perceived usefulness of COVID-19 informational e-government services was significant in predicting citizens' intention to adopt and recommend COVID-19 informational e-government services. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are interrogated further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic, as a global public health emergency, has led to stringency measures (such as lockdown) of various degrees worldwide. As these measures such as social distancing measures and mandatory lockdown are intended to minimize social mobility, they have exerted remarkable impact on individuals' mental health, particularly, adolescents and children. The mental health problems caused include fear, anxiety, sense of isolation and development of more maladaptive behaviors due to prolonged lockdown and restricted interpersonal contact. However, well adaption status and stable interpersonal relationships play an important role in maintaining and promoting the mental health of adolescents and children. This study aims to gain a new sight of understanding of the mental health quality of Chinese adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic in terms of adaptation and interpersonal quality. The study is based on a survey on a total of 7,318 junior and senior high school students aged 12-18 years in various regions of China, and intended to examine the differences in adolescent mental health quality by sociodemographic variables such as gender, grade, urban and rural areas, only child, and parental education level. Our study finds that Chinese adolescents show an overall good adaptation and interpersonal quality during the lockdown. However there exists disparity across different categories in developmental patterns of adaptation and interpersonal quality. In addition, good family environment, moderate financial and emotional support, higher parental education level, etc. contribute to the cultivation and improvement of adolescents' mental health quality. Finally, we suggest that the government and researchers should pay more attention to adolescents' mental health issues in terms of adaption status and interpersonal relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for disadvantaged social groups such as girls, younger students, and low-income family students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the outbreak of a new viral infection in the early weeks of 2020, some countries imposed strict entry restrictions on visitors from China, while others opted for less stringent measures. Among the explanations for such variation, this study is focused on the argument that a country's economic dependence on China, particularly via trade, affected its decision. This economic vulnerability argument posits that countries highly dependent on China for trade avoided imposing a ban because it might have caused (1) primary economic losses from trade disruptions and (2) secondary economic losses from Chinese sanctions. I empirically test this argument using an original data set on entry restrictions on China. The findings do not support such a hypothesis. Using the nonconforming cases of Japan and South Korea, I speculate that country-specific factors, which tend to be idiosyncratic and political, may have played a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italy was one of the first European countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic after the beginning of the outbreak in China in January 2020. Applying critical discourse analysis and theories of the mediation of suffering, this article explores the discursive strategies used by the Italian media to represent China and Chinese people in relation to the outbreak in the early stage of the pandemic. Employing the theoretical frameworks of Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, and other thinkers on biopolitics, racism, and emergency, the results bring to light the persistent ideologies behind the media representations of an imagined Other, which reflect existing discourses toward the Chinese community in Italy. In this study, the contentious discourses around China and the Chinese amidst the pandemic reveal the role of the Italian media in presenting risks, mediating suffering as a distant event and, later, as a national concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: E-health apps play a vital role in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. More people across the globe have started to use fitness and health apps to mitigate the COVID-19 negative impacts on the health-related quality of life. E-health treatments are becoming more common these days. Aim: The present research aim was to explore the mediating role of digital platforms for physical activity and fitness with demographic characteristics among Chinese people during the pandemic. Methods: The primary data was collected through an online survey across China under the snowball sampling technique. A total of 5351 respondents took part in the online questionnaire survey. After quantification and quality check of the data, a total of 5000 respondents' responses were added in the final analysis. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS-25 and SmartPLS 3.0 software. Results: The structural equation model analysis H1 (β = 0.227, t = 18.725, p = < 0.000), H2 (β = 0.225, t = 17.892, p = < 0.000), H3 (β = 0.229, t = 17.845, p = < 0.000), H4 (β = 0.54, t = 60.928, p= < 0.000), H5 (β = 0.553, t = 57.291, p = < 0.000), H6 (β = 0.559, t = 56.956, p = < 0.000), H7 (β = 0.358, t = 24.779, p = < 0.000), H8 (β = 0.259, t = 19.617, p = < 0.000) and H9 (β = 0.288, t = 19.92, p = < 0.000) results confirm the proposed hypothesis of the study. Conclusion: E-health apps are playing a vital role in maintaining an active lifestyle through physical activity. Fitness and health apps can promote physical activity and improve health-related quality of life. Results of the current study concluded that E-health apps are promising to promote physical activity and fitness during the COVID-19 preventive measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing of 1.5m are two common preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19. However, the interaction of these preventive measures in interpersonal space (IPS) perception remains unknown. This study evaluated the effects of wearing surgical masks, sex dyads, and approaching patterns on IPS judgment. Data were collected from participants from Mainland China (n =100) and Taiwan (n =100) through an online survey. Therefore, the regional differences were also examined. A smaller IPS was observed when participants faced confederates wearing surgical masks than in the no-mask condition. Female dyads tended to maintain a smaller IPS than did both male and mixed-sex dyads, and Taiwanese participants maintained a significantly larger IPS than did Mainland Chinese participants. No significant difference was observed between the active and passive pattern. Moreover, the interaction between region and mask had a significant influence on IPS perception. Among all test combinations, only the IPS perceived by Taiwanese participants facing confederates without surgical masks exceeded 1.5m. This study revealed that the wearing of surgical masks for health protection during the pandemic influences IPS perception in different regions. The current findings may provide useful information for social interaction and environmental design during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image-building has been an important goal of China's foreign policy. Humanitarian diplomacy provides a useful instrument to build a benign international image, given the altruistic nature of humanitarian action. China's humanitarian diplomacy has undergone changes in recent years, such as substantial increases in humanitarian spending, institutional reforms and the emergence of Chinese non-state actors. The existing literature on China's humanitarian activities is scant due to the country's limited engagement in global humanitarian action previously. This article aims to contribute to the scholarship by examining China's humanitarian activities in Southeast Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of image-building. Specifically, it answers the questions of how China uses humanitarian action to improve its international image and how effective such efforts have been. This article finds that the outcome of China's image-building through humanitarian activities is influenced by the severity of the crisis, the national response of the country affected and the perceived legitimacy of China's action. It concludes that China's humanitarian diplomacy has achieved mixed outcomes in Southeast Asia. While China has been recognized as a major provider of help during the pandemic, its assistance has not substantially improved its image in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis discusses domestic sources of China's diplomatic offensive in Europe following the outbreak of Covid-19, with a focus on the central and eastern parts of the continent. By examining selected case studies of countries competing for Chinese medical supplies in the time of the global crisis, it demonstrates how the party-state leadership with "Xi Jinping at the core" has been promoting the narrative of its transparent and timely response to the outbreak of the pandemic, while at the same time nurturing its image as a (benevolent) global leader in the struggle against the coronavirus. The article argues that mask diplomacy has served two overlapping domestic and foreign policy goals: aiming to cover up China's leadership's failure to contain the pandemic in its initial stage, while also turning acts of foreign gratitude to its advantage in seeking domestic public approval and the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & aim: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the life and work of people worldwide. The present study aimed to evaluate the rhythm disruptions of life, work, and entertainment, and their associations with the psychological impacts during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from the 10th to 17th March 2020 in China. A structured e-questionnaire containing general information, the Chinese version of Brief Social Rhythm Scale, and Zung's self-rating scales of depression and anxiety (SDS and SAS) was posted and collected online through a public media (i.e. EQxiu online questionnaire platform). Scores in sleeping, getting up, and socializing (SGS) rhythm and eating, physical practice, and entertainment (EPE) rhythm were compared among and between participants with different sociodemographic backgrounds including gender, age, education, current occupation, annual income, health status, and chronic disease status. Correlations of SDS and SAS with SGS-scale and EPE-scale were also analyzed. Results: Overall, 5854 participants were included. There were significant differences in the scores of SGS-scale and EPE-scale among people with different sociodemographic backgrounds. The scores were significantly higher in the groups with female gender, low education level, lower or higher than average income, poor health status, ages of 26–30 years or older than 61 years, nurses and subjects with divorce or widow status. There were also significant differences in SAS and SDS scores among people with different sociodemographic backgrounds (all P< 0.05). The overall prevalence of depression and anxiety was 24.3% and 12.6%, respectively, with nurses having the highest rates of depression (32.94%) and anxiety (18.98%) among the different occupational groups. SGS-scale was moderately correlated with SDS and SAS, and disruption of SGS rhythm was an independent risk factor for depression and anxiety. Conclusion: Social rhythm disruption was independently associated with depression and anxiety. Interventions should be applied to people vulnerable to the rhythm disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The COVID-19 has led to unprecedented psychological stress on the general public. However, the associations between media exposure to COVID-19 and acute stress responses have not been explored during the early COVID-19 outbreak in China. Methods. An online survey was conducted to investigate the relationships between media exposure to COVID-19 and acute stress responses, and to recognize associated predictors of acute stress responses on a sample of 1,450 Chinese citizens from February 3 to February 10, 2020. Media exposure questionnaire related to COVID-19 was developed to assess media exposure time, media exposure forms and media exposure content. The Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ) was used to measure acute stress responses, including continuous acute stress symptom scores and the risk of probable acute stress disorder (ASD). A series of regression analyses were conducted. Results. Longer media exposure time and social media use were associated with higher acute stress and probable ASD. Viewing the situation of infected patients was associated with higher acute stress, whereas viewing the latest news about pandemic data was associated with lower odds of probable ASD. Being females, living in Hubei Province, someone close to them diagnosed with COVID-19, history of mental illness, recent adverse life events and previous collective trauma exposure were risk factors for acute stress responses. Conclusions. These findings confirmed the associations between indirect media exposure to pandemic events and acute stress responses. The governments should be aware of the negative impacts of disaster-related media exposure and implement appropriate interventions to promote psychological well-being following pandemic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to assess the relationship between media exposure and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and to highlight the underlying mechanisms mediated by risk perception. Methods: This survey was conducted online in China from February 1st to February 10th, 2020. A total of 2,858 Chinese citizens aged ≥18 years from 31 provinces and autonomous regions were recruited to participate in a cross-sectional study. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess media exposure, PTSS, and risk perception. Results: The prevalence of respondents with heightened PTSS scores was 22.2%. After controlling for covariates, media exposure (more than five times a day) was significantly and positively associated with a high level of PTSS (B = 4.11, p < 0.001), and risk perception (worry and severity) significantly mediated the relationship between media exposure and PTSS (all 95% CIs did not include 0). Conclusions: Based on these findings, the frequency of media exposure was associated with PTSS. Risk perception (worry and severity) mediated the relationship between media exposure and PTSS. The mental health, particularly PTSS, of the general population should be closely monitored and "infodemics" should be combatted while addressing the COVID-19 outbreak; cognitive interventions may be promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Psychotraumatology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The governmental responses to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including the approach, interventions, and their associated effectiveness, vary across social, cultural, political, and institutional contexts. In China, the Wuhan lockdown significantly reduced the transmission of COVID-19 throughout the country. Chinese central and local governments' responses to disease containment and mitigation were uniform in policymaking but implemented differently across local governing contexts. This study examines the variation in the effects of human mobility restrictions on inter-provincial migration flow during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. The results show that mobility restrictions reduced the inter-provincial in-migration flow by 63%, and the out-migration flow by 62% from late January to early May in 2020, but the effects varied significantly across provinces. Further, the negative effects of mobility restrictions on province's outflow migration were greater in provinces where local governments had higher levels of social media involvement, greater public security spending, and longer duration of first-level response to public health emergencies. The finding provides important insights for understanding China's local governmental responses to mobility restrictions and their effects on the spread of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) outbreak has elicited concerns about public fear and economic fallout. The current study takes a person‐oriented approach to identify the unique response patterns that underlie three risk perception components (likelihood, severity, and protection efficacy) of COVID‐19, with information sources as precursors and economic confidence as outcomes. Methods: A total of 1,074 Chinese citizens participated in a national online survey in early February 2020. Results: A latent profile analysis showed that participants exhibited one of three classes: Risk Neutrals (49.9%; moderate in all components), Risk Deniers (14.3%; low likelihood, low severity, and high protection efficacy), or Risk Exaggerators (35.8%; high likelihood, high severity, and low protection efficacy). Subsequent analyses showed that reliance on unofficial sources (gossip and news spread among friends; WeChat) positively correlated with membership in the Risk Exaggerators class. In turn, belonging in the Risk Exaggerators class correlated with the lowest short‐term (but not long‐term) economic confidence. Conclusions: This study suggests that exploring the heterogeneity of the public risk perception might help the government to design differentiated risk communication strategies during the COVID‐19 outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has profoundly influenced people's lifestyles; these impacts have varied across subgroups of people. The pandemic-related impacts on the health outcomes of people with dermatological conditions are unknown.Objective: The aim of this paper was to study the association of COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts with health-related quality of life in patients with skin diseases.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study among Chinese patients with skin diseases. A self-administered web-based questionnaire was distributed through social media. Demographic and clinical data and pandemic-related impacts (isolation status, income changes, and employment status) were collected. The main outcomes included perceived stress (Visual Analog Scale), symptoms of anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7) and depression (9-Item Patient Health Questionnaire), quality of life (Dermatology Life Quality Index), and health utility mapping based on the EQ-5D-3L descriptive system. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the associations.Results: A total of 506 patients with skin diseases completed the survey. The mean age of the patients was 33.5 years (SD 14.0), and 217/506 patients (42.9%) were male. Among the 506 respondents, 128 (25.3%) were quarantined, 102 (20.2%) reported unemployment, and 317 (62.6%) reported decrease or loss of income since the pandemic. The pandemic-related impacts were significantly associated with impaired mental well-being and quality of life with different effects. Unemployment and complete loss of income were associated with the highest risks of adverse outcomes, with increases of 110% to 162% in the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and impaired quality of life.Conclusions: Isolation, income loss, and unemployment are associated with impaired health-related quality of life in patients with skin diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the emerging perceptions of national identity within the context of Covid-19 among nine Chinese exchange students in Russia. Qualitative data were mainly collected from interviews, complemented by WeChat group discussions, moment updates, comments and repatriation reports. Participants were exposed to cross-cultural contexts, their group membership (i.e. being a Chinese) triggered the reflection on national identity. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 pandemic influenced their thinking towards how they feel about China and others. Thematic findings related to the participants' awareness of national self, which manifested through their observations about the pandemic; politics, patriotism, lifestyle, education and diversity were discussed. This study reveals a strong emotional attachment to homeland among the less studied China-Russia exchange student cohort. Although China's success in combatting the Covid-19 heightened their sense of national pride, the participants were also found to critically reflect on their daily encounters and attempt to engage in social changes. The study showed the pervasiveness and expansion of identity work in the study abroad setting, suggesting greater attention to be paid to the opportunity for student self-discovery and rational thinking in the tertiary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I examine the ways in which the recent, nationwide 'lockdown' (fengcheng) in China, caused by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, has abruptly reshaped daily intimacy practices of urban residents. Highlighting the lockdown in a southeast coastal city in the broader context of China's post-socialist transformations, I propose that class distinctions have profoundly reconfigured local citizens' dail y experiences, producing a system of what might be termed 'graduated intimacies'. To further contextualize these urban citizens' experiences of intimacy under the current transnational geo-biopolitics associated with the pandemic, I provide a reflexive and comparative ethnographic look at the national capital of Beij ing. In so doing, I offer a glimpse into the lives of several sets of Chinese citizens at an unexpected historical moment induced by a grave public health crisis extending well beyond China's national borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly increased consumers' demands for online groceries, as well as healthy, safe, and better-quality food products. In China, certified food products are commonly perceived as safe and good-quality products. Therefore, this study investigated potential factors that influenced Chinese consumers' online shopping intentions toward certified food during the COVID-19 crisis. An integrated model was proposed by combining the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) with the impact of COVID-19 (IOC). The empirical results of structural equation modelling analysis with 491 usable responses revealed that the proposed model showed a good model fit and satisfactory explanatory power (R2 = 53%) regarding consumers' certified online food shopping intentions during the pandemic. The path analysis demonstrated that attitude, perceived behavioural control, perceived usefulness (PU), and IOC significantly affected consumers' online purchase intentions of certified food. PU and perceived ease of use (PEOU) were important drivers of attitudes, and PEOU significantly influenced PU. Moreover, the IOC was significantly related to most factors, except subjective norms. These findings can be useful for detecting changes in consumer behaviour, and providing suitable strategic implications for stakeholders in the Chinese certified food sector during the current and post-pandemic eras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed people's health behavior, but also induced a psychological reaction among the public. Research data is needed to develop scientific evidence-driven strategies to reduce adverse mental health effects. The aims of this study are to evaluate the anxiety reaction of Chinese people and the related determinants during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Evidence from this survey will contribute to a targeted reference on how to deliver psychological counseling service in the face of outbreaks. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional, population-based online survey was conducted from 28 January to 5 February 2020 using an open online questionnaire for people aged 18 years or above, residing in China and abroad. The socio-demographic information of the respondents was collected, and anxiety scores were calculated. A direct standardization method was used to standardize anxiety scores and a general linear model was used to identify associations between some factors (e.g., sex, age, education, etc.) and anxiety scores. (3) Results: A total of 10,946 eligible participants were recruited in this study, with a completion rate of 98.16% (10,946/11,151). The average anxiety score was 6.46 ± 4.12 (total score = 15); women (6.86 ± 4.11) scored higher than men (5.67 ± 4.04). The age variable was inversely and significantly associated with the anxiety score (β = −2.12, 95% CI: −2.47–−1.78). People possessing higher education (β = 1.15, 95% CI: 0.88–1.41) or a higher awareness of cognitive risk (β = 4.89, 95% CI: 4.33–5.46) reported higher levels of anxiety. There was a close association between poor subjective health and anxiety status (β = 2.83, 95% CI: 2.58–3.09). With the increase of confidence, the anxiety of the population exhibited a gradual decline (β = −2.45, 95% CI: −2.77–−2.13). (4) Conclusion: Most people were vulnerable to anxiety during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Younger women, individuals with high education, people with high cognitive risk and subjective poor health were vulnerable to anxiety during the epidemic. In addition, increasing confidence in resisting this pandemic is a protective determinant for individuals to develop anxiety. The findings suggest that policymakers adopt psychosocial interventions to reduce anxiety during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly influenced consumers' habits and behaviours, creating a more sustainable and healthier era of consumption. Hence, there is a potential for further expanding the green food sector in China. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is one widely used framework to explain consumers' food choices. Considering consumers' internal norms, their perceptions of green food attributes, and the shifting consumer behaviour, our study has extended the TPB framework (E-TPB) by adding constructs of moral attitude, health consciousness, and the impact of COVID-19 (IOC). The results of structural equation modelling among 360 functional samples revealed that the E-TPB model has a superior explanatory and predictive power, compared with the original TPB model regarding Chinese consumers' green food buying intentions in the current and post-pandemic periods. The path analysis demonstrated that attitude, perceived behavioural control, moral attitude, health consciousness, and IOC have significant positive effects on green food purchase intentions. However, the association between subjective norm and purchase intention varies within the TPB and E-TPB models, which showed a non-significant impact in E-TPB. These findings can generate more suitable managerial implications to promote green food consumption in China during the current and post-pandemic periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to describe the Chinese experience for the purposes of global epidemic control, the study analyzed the impact on the COVID-19 pandemic of policies adopted during the lockdown of Wuhan city. Descriptive analysis and stepwise regression analysis were performed using the official case data from January 10, 2020 to April 8, 2020. The results show that the prevention and control policies of Lockdown Wuhan City (LWC) has played a significant role in reducing new case numbers, improving COVID-19's cure rate and reducing mortality. Among the policies of LWC, stay at home, centralized isolation of convalescent patients, launching makeshift hospitals, and centralized isolation of "the four types of personnel " that play a decisive role. As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, this study provides valuable experience for other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological status of the general population in mainland China during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and to explore the factors influencing psychological distress, in order to provide the basis for further psychological intervention programs. Methods: We administered three questionnaires on-line to a convenience sample of the general population from different regions of mainland China from February 1 to February 4, 2020. We used the Mandarin versions of the six-item Kessler psychological distress scale (K6), the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), and the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS). We also collected demographic data and other information related to the COVID-19 outbreak. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors influencing psychological distress. Results: Of 1607 respondents, 1588 returned valid questionnaires and were included in the analysis. Nearly one quarter (22.8%) had high levels of psychological distress (K6 score ≥ 13). Individuals with higher psychological distress were more likely to be unmarried, spend more than 6 h per day searching for information about COVID-19, more frequently adopt a passive coping style, and report less social support than those with lower psychological distress. Conclusions: The COVID-19 outbreak in China has a great impact on the mental health status of the general population. Active coping strategies and increased social support are significantly correlated with decreased psychological distress, and may serve as the basis for psychological interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]